


If I go to Kur, will you come with me?

by weebuwu



Series: Dates With Ritsuka [2]
Category: Fate/Grand Order
Genre: Comfort, Developing Relationship, F/M, Fluff and Humor, Harem Protag EX has a 5 turn uptime and 1turn cooldown, Loneliness, anime ritsuka is pure baby boy but why he so boring smhmh, applies charm to all allies and enemies, based on game not anime, best rinface screw you, characters acting OOC, ereshkigal is a cutie, flirty ritsuka is best ritsuka, ritsuka deals 10x damage to all enemies afflicted by (Charm) status
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 04:29:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25747423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weebuwu/pseuds/weebuwu
Summary: A retold version of the night watch scene in Ur, before the big fight with Quetzalcoatl, where Ritsuka is a flirty bro and Ereshkigal is cute.
Relationships: Ereshkigal | Lancer/Fujimaru Ritsuka
Series: Dates With Ritsuka [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1861564
Comments: 7
Kudos: 28





	If I go to Kur, will you come with me?

Ritsuka looks up at the night skies of the Age of the Gods, the canvas of deep indigo embroidered by an uncountable number of sequins. Breathing in the night air of Ur, he waits for his shift to end, so he can finally turn in and sleep for a while before the big fight with Quetzalcoatl.

…Pfft. Yeah, right.

_…My romantic interlude sense is tingling!_ As if in response to his thoughts, a familiar voice sounds from behind him.

“Good evening.” It’s Ishtar. “On guard duty by yourself again?”

“Mhm. My shift’ll end soon, though. What’s up?”

Ishtar holds out a cup to Ritsuka. “Here, something to drink.”

“Oh, thanks.” He takes the cup from her and drinks a little. “It’s good.”

“It’s chilled fruit water.” She smiles at him, pleased.

“Thanks.” Ritsuka shuffles over a little, patting the space next to him. “Please, have a seat.”

“Sure. I might as well, since I’m here.” She sits down with a grunt. “So, Ur turned out to be like this, huh? Compared to Uruk, though, everyone’s kind of morose.”

She looks down at the ground, hugging her legs. “…But this is how things are supposed to be. Not all humans are strong.” She tightens her grip on her legs, furrowing her brow. “There are people who try, but things just don’t work out. It’s not because they’re not brave enough, or because they’re weaklings.”

“They’re just not fit to do certain things.”

Ritsuka looks over to her. He’s unfamiliar with such a philosophical side to Ishtar, and finds himself drawn into her thoughts.

She looks up, drawing in a breath before continuing. “Gilgamesh and Quetzalcoatl don’t understand that. …No, they don’t even try to understand it.”

Ritsuka is drawn into her eyes, the vast sky reflected in them. He swears that the stars glitter more brilliantly in her eyes than the night sky itself. _But…the look in her eyes. She looks so lonely._

“If only the strong and glorious are accepted in this world, the weak and frightened ones will have no place. It’s not that you need to protect them just because they’re weak. It’s just that some things can only be seen from their perspective.” She suddenly turns to Ritsuka, leaning in with a determined expression. “I don’t want to ignore that fact. I want everything to be fair.”

“Ishtar…” Ritsuka sat back, putting on a smile. “You’re pretty fussy, huh?” he remarks with a chuckle.

She sits back a little, with an embarrassed blush. “R-really? I didn’t realise… Still, it’s true that I don’t like dirty things.” She rests her chin on her hand, relaxing a little. “Although, I love bones…I don’t like animal guts and stuff like that, though.”

“Well, whatever.” Ishtar suddenly looks as though she remembered something. She turns back to Ritsuka. “Ah! Actually, I came to advise-“

“Advise me on what?” Ritsuka asks, confused at why Ishtar had suddenly stopped talking.

“Ah…” _Ah…?_

“ **Ah…** ” _Oh, it’s this._ Realising what was happening, he backs up a little in advance.

“ **Achoo!** ”

And here it was. No, not just the sneeze. Weirdo.

Ishtar’s long black hair fades to a bright blonde colour, and her (lack of an) outfit changes into a black minidress and red cloak. Her headdress diminishes in size, while the ties around her twintails change to red. A gold pendant designed to look like a skull atop a spine now hangs from her neck.

Ritsuka closed his eyes and furrowed his brow. _So…who **is** this, exactly?_

“I came to give you some advice tonight. To plan against… Ritsuka?” She pokes his arm, trying to get his attention.

_I feel as if…Mash told me about this before._ His mind wandered to the night prior to the rayshift into Babylonia, all while not-Ishtar kept poking at his arm. “Ritsukaaaaa?” _“So, Senpai, in_ The Descent of Ishtar to the Netherworld _, the goddess Ishtar brashly enters Kur, the Sumerian underworld, ruled by her older sister, Ereshkigal…” Could it be…Ereshkigal?_

He turns suddenly to look at her. “Uwa! You startled me…” Ereshkigal jumps back a little, clutching at her chest. “Were you ignoring me when I was trying to be nice and help you strategise?”

“Ah, don’t worry about it. I was just lost in thought for a little while,” he explains, then sips loudly. “This fruit water is good, by the way.”

“…O-okay, if you say so…” she pouts. “Anyway!” she exclaims, regaining some vigour. “Listen carefully to my suuuuuuper helpful advice!”

Ritsuka repositions himself so that he is kneeling, facing Ereshkigal with his hands on his knees. “Got it.”

“Ready?” Affirmed by a nod from Ritsuka, she begins to speak her god(ess)ly words of wisdom.

After a lecture from Ereshkigal on how to defeat Quetzalcoatl, Ritsuka was beaming at the prospect of finally being able to fight on a level playing field with such a powerful opponent. He moves his face closer to Ereshkigal’s with elated, glowing eyes. “You sure are a goddess!”

With a self-satisfied look, she put her hands on her hips. “Yes, of course! I am the greatest and wisest goddess of Mesopotamia!”

“Still, aren’t you a little naïve?” Ritsuka didn’t pull his punches, replacing her prideful glow with an abashed, wavering smile.

Scratching her face, she admits, “W-well…” She sighs. “Maybe just a little.”

 _It’s that look again,_ thinks Ritsuka. Mash’s voice echoes in his head. _“Ereshkigal was a characteristically lonely goddess, even as the queen of Kur.”_

“You see, I’m usually at the temple, so all I knew of the outside world was what I’d heard.”

_“Her first husband, Gugalanna, was used as a weapon and sent to his death by Ishtar in her desire for petty revenge. Her second husband disrespected her in the heavens, and upon hearing of this, she sent for him to be ordered to journey to the underworld so that she could punish him. However, she was overpowered, and he tried to kill her.”_

“I was given a job as soon as I was born, so I didn’t have any freedom…”

_"Her responsibility as the queen of Kur essentially bound her to the underworld, alone. She could not leave it unsupervised for long periods of time, and gods could not enter the underworld, since they wouldn’t be able to leave.”_

“You’re…seriously the first conversation with me like this as a friend…” Glancing over at him, Ereshkigal’s eyes meet with Ritsuka’s. Blushing, she quickly averts her gaze. “Th-that’s why I couldn’t turn a blind eye, so I’m helping you out like this…”

“Well, I’m honoured to be your very first friend.” Ritsuka smiles at her, glad that she at least seemed to be happy now.

“Eh?!” Ereshkigal snaps around, her face burning red like a poker left in the fireplace. “Is…is that so?” she asks, putting her fingertips together in embarrassment, looking away from Ritsuka’s brilliant smile. “I hadn’t…thought about that. But maybe it’s not so bad to have a friend.”

Ritsuka looks at her in awe. Despite her naivete, despite her struggles, and despite her pain, Ritsuka cannot see anything before him except a girl who was doing her utmost best to help him. Even if he doesn’t know why, he can’t deny that Ereshkigal has been nothing but kind to him all these nights.

“Hey.” It’s no use. Ritsuka can only think of that look in her eyes – a look that screamed loneliness, a look that said that she could only dream of many things, never able to do them. No matter what, he never wanted to be swallowed up by such a forlorn look ever again.

“Huh?” Ereshkigal looks up at him, only to be greeted… “Mmph-?!” …by Ritsuka embracing her in his arms. “Wh-wha-?!”

Instead, Ritsuka wants to get lost in her smile.

“Really, I’m glad that you’re here.” He tightens his embrace, holding Ereshkigal’s slight frame in his warm hands. “Our nightly talks are always a lot of fun. You’re the reason I look forward to night watch duty, you know.” Getting over the initial surprise, Ereshkigal buries her face in his shoulder, lightly returning the embrace, silent.

“And…really. I really appreciate it. Thanks for all your help…” She began to tear up slightly at being praised so suddenly, after going her whole life completely thanklessly.

“… _Ereshkigal_.”

“Eh?”

“Hm? What’s the matter, _Ereshkigal?_ ”

“EEEEEHHHHHHHHHH?!?!” She pushes her way out of the hug, hands on Ritsuka’s chest.

He didn’t think that she could blush even harder than she already had, but obviously, he was wrong. It looks as though Ereshkigal is _literally_ glowing red against the darkness of the forest surrounding Ur. Her expression is the embodiment of a fluster.

“Y-you-you…how-how d-did you know?!” She clutches her head, too shy to meet his gaze. Ritsuka can practically feel the centrifugal force of her mind spinning. _Cute._

“Ah, your disguise came off when you sneezed.”

“YOU’RE KIDDING!” she exclaims, checking her clothes and hair. “YOU’RE RIGHT! YOU KNEW FOR THIS LONG AND YOU NEVER SAID ANYTHING?!” The steam coming from her head is visible at this point. _Oh, actually, that might just be a heat mirage._

“Uh…actually, I knew since you sneezed on your first visit.” Ritsuka admits, a hand behind his head.

At this point, Ereshkigal is lying on the floor, curled up in sheer embarrassment, hands still clutching her head. “Uuuuu…no more…I can’t take any more of this humiliation.”

Ritsuka can’t resist the urge to tease her, just a little. He leans in closer to her ear and whispers. “Even if I knew you were pretending to be Ishtar all this time…I meant everything I said. Really. Ereshkigal…” He gets so close that his lips are on the verge of brushing against her ear, and Ereshkigal can do nothing but whimper out high-pitched noises of fluster.

“I love you.” With those words, he plants a kiss on the side of her head.

He sits back up, smiling at a silent Ereshkigal, still turned away from him.

“Ereshkigal?”

“…”

“… _Ereshkigal?_ ” Ritsuka gets up, worried, and walks around to her front.

“Oh. Crap.” It seemed that the kiss had pushed her too far past her threshold, and she had passed out.

Carefully, Ritsuka takes off her cloak and moves her so that she’s laying on her back, covering her in her cloak as a blanket. After some more consideration, he takes off his scarf and folds it a few times, placing it under Ereshkigal’s hair.

“I’m gonna need to remember to apologise to her the next time we meet.”

“Fou, fou.”

Behind a nearby boulder, Fou was observing their little escapade.

“Foooou…fou fou, fou.” (Translation: Jeez…those two. Even I’m not going to ruin a mood that nice.)

And with that, Fou slipped away into the darkness of the night (read: back to where Mash was asleep).

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to base this off of the game cutscene instead of the anime, since it gave me a bit more artistic liberty to do what I wanted.
> 
> It was fun! This is my first submission to the 'Dates with Ritsuka' series. Go wild.
> 
> See ya!


End file.
